Musicians

“Music is a way of looking at someone in a different way,” says ethnomusicologist Ben Harbert. “You see them as a singer, not a prisoner.”

Finding Music Behind Prison Bars

At the Louisiana State Penitentiary and at a maximum-security prison in Malawi, the benefits of music are far-reaching

The Original Dixieland Jass Band included cornetist Nick LaRocca, trombonist Eddie Edwards, clarinetist Larry Shields, pianist Henry Ragas, and drummer Tony Sbarbaro.

The First Jazz Recording Was Made by a Group of White Guys?

A century ago, a recording of the startlingly novel "Livery Stable Blues" helped launch a new genre

Interior of Historic RCA Studio B today.

Play Paul Simon's Piano or Croon Into Elvis' Mic at These Seven Historic Recording Studios

Take a tour through Americana music history

Now on display in the museum’s “Musical Crossroads” exhibition, the boombox is a striking symbol of the early years of hip-hop.

The Ballad of the Boombox: What Public Enemy Tells Us About Hip-Hop, Race and Society

Thirty years after Public Enemy's debut album, the group's sonic innovation and powerful activism resonate powerfully today

Elizabeth Taylor Greenfield

The Soprano Who Upended Americans' Racist Stereotypes About Who Could Sing Opera

Elizabeth Taylor Greenfield was in many ways the nation's first black pop star

Album cover for the Live At Folsom Prison album.

This 1951 Prison B-Movie Inspired “Folsom Prison Blues”

Johnny Cash's live prison concert made him the voice for rehabilitation over punishment

Bruce Springsteen performs with drummer Max Weinberg in 2008.

Bruce Springsteen Is Getting His Own Archive

A new center will celebrate the glory days of Boss and other American musical icons

"No one on earth can be totally secure, because nothing can completely protect you from life’s tragedies and the relentless passage of time.”

Michael Jackson, Donald Trump and Other Famous Americans Who Escaped Brushes With Death

The roads not taken for these 13 lucky souls saved their lives

The word “jazz” was first used in print in California sportswriting around 1912.

This Is the "Jass" Record That Introduced Millions of Americans to a New Kind of Music

The record that introduced millions of Americans to a new kind of music

Glad tidings! There's a new Christmas song in town.

Researchers Found a Long-Lost Christmas Song

"Crown Winter With Green" has some serious archival cred—and a sad story to tell

You May Not Have Rhythm, But Your Eyeballs Sure Do

Tracking eye movement gives researchers a peek into how the brain reacts to music

We asked Smithsonian scholars to make book recommendations to our readers for this holiday season of gift giving.

Increase and Diffuse Knowledge for the Holidays With These Smithsonian Curated Books

Books recommended by Smithsonian Institution scholars

Harry and the Potters live in concert in 2007.

A Brief History of Wizard Rock

This Halloween, check out a genre devoted to Harry Potter's Wizarding World

Iggy Pop Life Class by Jeremy Deller

Iggy Pop Bares More Than Abs in New Art Exhibition About Masculinity

Punk meets pencil in an art show that examines the portrayal of masculinity throughout the centuries

Bob Dylan by John Cohen, 1962

Is Bob Dylan a Poet?

As the enigmatic singer, songwriter and troubadour takes the Nobel Prize in literature, one scholar ponders what his work is all about

John Cohen photographs a young Bob Dylan playing his guitar and harmonica in New York City in 1962.

Five Things to Know About Bob Dylan

When it comes to awards, the times are a' changin'—and now the iconic musician is a Nobel laureate

Leutwyler spent three weeks in the archives of the Elvis Presley Estate photographing objects, such as this gold-plated microphone (c. 1960).

A New Photo Book Reveals the Objects That Tell the Stories of the Rich and Famous

Photographer Henry Leutwyler usually shoots his camera at celebrities. For this book, he looked at their stuff

The Voice of Tomorrow Choir on the front porch of the new National Museum of African American History and Culture

What You Need to Know About the September 24 NMAAHC Grand Opening

Entry Passes are all gone for today, but there is plenty to see and do on the National Mall

9th Wonder is a GRAMMY Award-winning producer, DJ, college lecturer, and social activist.

The Music Is Turned Up High at the Freedom Festival (PHOTOS)

Where to go and who to hear as the celebrations begin at the concert on the National Mall "Freedom Sounds"

Alaska's yellow-cedar forests are slowly dying as climate change takes root.

This Music Was Composed by Climate Change

Dying forests make magnificently melancholy listening

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